Another early cup exit hints at deeper Bradford City troubles

It doesn’t really matter, but it should. A third successive immediate JPT exit won’t prompt any unrest at Valley Parade, but it is another instance this season of City falling short of the required standards – and these occasions are beginning to tally up.

For 25 minutes here they were excellent. A nothing game burst into life when Billy Knott fired home in clinical fashion after an initial effort had ricocheted back to him off a defender, and the Bantams found a spark to their play. But Barnsley came to win through a pair of near identical set piece goals. And they were good value for that victory, especially after a second half where City were lethargic and too easily tamed.

It is too easy to play against Bradford City at Valley Parade. Six teams have now visited this season, five have gone away with some reward for their game plan. It follows last season’s equally disappointing home record. City will never be a force in League One if they cannot be masters of their own domain.

On such evenings the complexion is distorted by the weakening of the starting line ups. With the exception of the injured Chris Routis, Phil Parkinson had gone with the same team that he picked a week ago. A debut for the young full back Greg Leigh. A first home appearance for the beleaguered Nathan Clarke. Only a second start for the energetic Luke James. Knott and James Hanson were also back in the side, with one eye looking over their shoulders and towards a bench featuring players who have recently been selected in front of them.

Lee Johnson, the under pressure Barnsley manager, went with a stronger team. This was no meaningless cup game for the young boss, who after recent poor results needed his players to deliver him a result. The enthusiastic celebrations on the field and in the away section, for the winning goal in particular, told their own story. This mattered, and the visitors’ attitude reflected that.

Which isn’t to suggest the home team were lacking effort or intensity. But it came in fits and starts, and as a group of players they were often disjointed in their endeavours. Knott’s energy and drive in the middle was a positive, and he deserved his goal. The young midfielder’s second season at Valley Parade is not yet going to plan and – in view of the tactical evolution from diamond to 4-4-2 – there remain question marks over whether he can play as part of a central midfield two. Still, Knott strode around with a purpose here that was sometimes lacking in his partner, Gary Liddle.

On the left hand side Leigh recovered from a slow start and impressed. He is confident in the tackle and in bringing possession forward, linking up well with another player in and out of the side – Mark Marshall – to decent effect.

City’s main attacking threat stemmed from this side, whilst on the right Stephen Darby and Tony McMahon were solid. At the back Clarke had a decent evening; although given his torrid start to life at Valley Parade, the bar was low for him going into this game. He will need to build on this.

For the two goals City conceded were poor and did not reflect well on Clarke and Rory McArdle. Right on half time Marley Watkins was left completely unmarked to head home an equaliser. Ben Williams also made two decent saves in the first half as Barnsley’s front two caused problems.

Encouraged by their first half display, Barnsley continued to press hard and went 2-1 up with barely 20 minutes left on the clock. Another free kick from out wide, another header. Alfie Mawson had to work hard to engineer the space and his glanced effort had pace and power.

City’s best second half chance had occurred five minutes earlier through James. He robbed the defender of possession, cut inside and into the box, and fizzed a low effort that was tipped behind. Soon after, James – and Hanson – were substituted. James worked hard all evening and is liked by the crowd for it, but he and Hanson had little chemistry and moves too often broke down.

Parkinson has four potentially excellent League One strikers fit and available – but he doesn’t yet have an excellent partnership. If two of these players can forge an effective understanding, they will get the starting nod. Devante Cole – who came on for James and produced nothing – is probably the key man in this regard. Yet he and Steve Davies could not replicate the promise they showed together at Spotland.

All of which meant Barnsley could see out the closing stages with ease. They looked more capable of adding to their lead than City did of coming back. That will especially trouble Parkinson, given how often his teams have ended games strongly over the past four years.

Not one home supporter who rolled up tonight would swap a victory here with one at Doncaster in the league on Saturday. But still, there is a whiff of stagnation at Valley Parade this season and it must be quickly banished. This might be a period of transition; yet under Parkinson in the past, lesser quality players have produced far better than this.

Losing tonight might be relatively painless in view of the low stakes; but it is adding to a worrying early season pattern that must be addressed. Especially on home soil.

6 replies

Leaving aside all the other issues, I never quite understand why Knott never gets put on the left. If ever there was a time to give Marshall, Evans, Liddle, Knott a go it was trying to get back into this game.
McMahon’s a decent player but he’s not going to create a right lot.

I won’t comment on the performance as I listened to Radio Sheffield at home but I pass on three observations from them.
1. “Williams stays on his line and doesn’t come for crosses”, this said as they lined up for the winner.
2. Bradford defending set pieces “not one Bradford player challenges for the ball”
3. Cole’s stay at Barnsley was “OK but he drifted in and out of games too often”
Nothing startling in those comments is there? Apart from being spot on, and the first two having now carried on for too long. The third is a coaching thing and he needs to apply himself more.
Easy things to sort, but we need to or we will be in trouble. Consistency and application needed.

Oh dear! There was such a stark contrast between last night’s home game and the previous one away against Rochdale. On both occasions the team was a strong one with many of the same players and yet the performance and the inevitable result were quite different. I find it difficult to put my own finger on why that was the case. Is it the pre-match preparation or is it the additional pressure of playing at home or is there some disconnect between the coaching as overseen by Parkin and the tactics as deployed by Parkinson? Or maybe we just have a squad composed largely of inconsistent players as we have shown all season? Last night, after a good 30-35 minutes, the urgency and cohesion which was evident at the start just seemed to disappear. And then the performance went downhill. Despite the encouragement from the touchline, any leadership on the pitch was non-existent. And I’m not just pointing the finger at Darby here. There are other senior and experienced players within the team who don’t take on that shared responsibility, other than possibly McMahon,when things aren’t going as well as expected. It’s as though the team on the pitch don’t know how to change things and are simply waiting for new instructions from the touchline. And that seems to be combined with a lack of confidence from some in their teammates to play football as it’s intended and to take the game to the opposition.

I hope that when we venture over to Doncaster at the weekend, the disappointment of last night has been expunged and our inconsistent approach provides us all with a Rochdale-type upturn!

Apart from our soft underbelly due to having a poor keeper and a shaky central defence it really worried me the way Billy Knott showed zero emotion when he scored our goal. Maybe he really dislikes the Johnstone paint trophy but I suspect something lies much deeper in his apparent lack of interest. Compare him to the Barnsley lads when they scored. Something is not right this season, a bitter Sheehan touched upon it when he left and whatever the problem is it is noticeable that our lads have no fight in them when they go a goal down. Compare last night and the woeful responce against Peterborough when we conceded ,to the responce of Sheff utd when they went 2 down against us.

Barrnsley players had something to prove after they conceded, they didnt shirnk away. In fact thier supporters were on thier backs and had they lost they would have faced thier anger!! This was the chief driver for them to get back into the game and coupled with the excellent Hourihane deliveries score goals that appeased thier fans.
Bradford Players seemed up for the occasion but when they scored I think Billy Knotts reaction turned them off, by putting Cole on only increased the raw determination of Barnsley who would have moved heaven and earth to prevent him scoring, if he actually was interested in doing so. BUT its just one game and ive seen city do much better, we all have!!!